The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 383

1hnnghts upon the prophet's soul; and often, M HoReR hero reminds the people by "multiplying visions." The "vision" was a frequent vehicle of Divine revel~tion <lur_ing the w~ole conr~e of the ~ational )ife of Israel. Jehovah multiplied visions to bnrn.h, ,TerC'm11i.h, Ezekiel, Zechanah, Damel, etc. And the prophets, in delivering the J,0rd'~ message, were directed to employ ruaterial signs as a means of adding omphasis to Fpiritmi.l truth. The Lord, who knows our frame, and who hRB made the earth "but the sha<low of heaven" (Milton), took e&re to" give similitudes by the prophets." The Hebrew seers 11~ed the metaphor, the allegory, the parable, the dramatic action. They found spirit111tl analogies everywhere in nature, and in the circumstances of hnmau lifo. And all this was a manifest~tion of God's solicitude for his people's good. He sent the "prophets," and gave the "visions,n and suggested the "similitudes" in tender love for his erring children. Yet all was in vain. The people continued to live as if God had given them no revelation. Their idolatry extended all over the region beyond Jordan, here represented by" Gilead;" and all over the west of Jordan, repre- sented by " Gilgal." They turned a deaf ear to the warning voices of the prophets. Ephraim forsook the one altar which God recognized as his, and increased the number of idol shrines until they covered the land, like the heaps of stones cleared by the farmer out of a ploughed field. The idolatry and wickedness of Israel were committed against the clearest light of prophecy, and against the yearning love of Jehovah, which had led him "daily to rise up early" and send the prophets. Lessons. 1. The privilege of being within reach of an earnest gospel ministry. 2. 'l'he advantage of the judicious use of illustrations in religious teaching. 3. How sad it is when localities which were once the scene of special manifestations of God become polluted with scandalous wickedness! 4. How aggravated the guilt of those who " sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth" (Heb. x. 26) I , III. EPHRAI?,i:'B.AS FAILED TO LEARN THE LESSONS OF ms OWN EA.BLY HISTORY. (Vers 12-14.) Had he reflected aright upon the course of Divine providence towards himself, his thoughts about God would have been thoughts especially of humility and gratitude. 1. Humility. (Ver. 12.) When the Jew offered his basket of" firstfruits '' annually tc the Lord, he was to say," A Syrian ready to perish was my father'' (Oeut. :u:vL 5). Jacob, the stem-father of the tribes, went to Mesopotamia as a fugitive, and remained there for twenty yea.re as a servant. He he.d no dowry to offer for Rachel; he could only serve for her as a shepherd. Israel, accordingly, had not much to boast of as regarde his national origin ; the beginnings of the nation could scarcely have been more humble. And yet how different was J acob's life, spiritually, from that of his children tc whom Hosea spoke this prophecy I 2. Gratitude. (Ver. 13.) The reference now is tc Moses. If Jacob's condition of servitude in Padan-aram taught a lesson of humility, the thought of the slavery of his immediate posterity in Egypt was fitted to inspire sentiments of gratitude. What a great emancipation was that of the Exodus I And the agent by whom that deliverance had been accomplished was a prophet, and on€ who, like Jacob, had been a shepherd. Degenerate Israel despised the teacher whom God sent, forgetting while he did so that the emancipation from the bondage of Egypt had to.ken place under the leadership of one single prophet. The Prophet Moses had conducted the tribes through the lied Sea; and had acted as their guardian, and their mediator with God, during all the forty yea.re which they spent in the Arabian desert Under him the people had passed from a state of servitude into a position of sonsbip. Yet, alas! the nation cherished now neither humility nor gratitude. The Lord had preserved, enriched, and blessed them; but in return they only "provoked him to anger" by their grievous sins, until it bee&me impossible that they could escape the punishment of their impiety. LessonB: I. 'l'he profitableness of the study of Scripture biography and history. 2. God's people must expect to be subjected to dis- cipline u a condition of their spiritual advancement. 3. The Lord uses apparently bumble instruments to accomplish great results. 4. The duty of cherishing gratitude for past mercies in our national history.--C. J. Ver. 3 (last clallJle).-Prevailing with God. It is no small thing to have a godly parentage. To be born to the heritage of a good name and of religious influences brings heavy responsibility and noble privilege. The man who turns from the path in which hii; godly ancestors walked commits a greater sin, in the judgment of God, than OR, xn. 1-14.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 385